How Much Are You Worth?

Good Morning.

Today I want to discuss e-book pricing. While I was away, I read some "big name author" opinions on the subject, and I have a few of my own I'd like to share. Not because I'm a "big" author, but I think they're valid points and if you're heading into the e-publishing sphere, you might want to take some of this into consideration.

As a whole, I think it depends on what kind of story you've written. For my short stories, I priced them at .99cents. I thought that was fair. I tried $1.29 for one of them for two weeks and I didn't sell one copy. As soon as I dropped my price back to .99, they sold.

(Now, some authors price their shorts at $1.99, their novellas at $2.99, novels at $6.99. Which might work for them, but it doesn't work for me. These are mostly big name authors who've made their mark in the self-publishing arena and can do whatever they want.)

In my Regency series, my novellas and short stories are .99 cents. My novels, I started off at $2.99, and then I raised the price to $3.49. I'm selling the exact same amount from when they were .50cents cheaper. It's my opinion, if people like what they see in the cover copy and the "inside peek" they'll buy it no matter what the price. Especially if you've found a fan base.

Now, some "insiders" say to price your first book cheaply in the beginning to gain an audience and use it as a "loss leader." (We discussed this last week on the Is Free the New Black post.) If you're writing a series, and don't write short stories, this can work for you. .99 is an enticement to get readers to stick around for the rest of the series especially if the first book is well-written. When the second book comes out, the price you decide upon is up to you.

And here's the crux of it. How much do you think your book is worth? Only you can determine this. I don't know about you, but I've worked long and hard on my books, crafting them, revising, rewriting, editing, formatting, all the stuff we do as writers on our way to publication. How long did it take me to write the book? God only knows. If I broke it down into actual man hours, it seems like a million. Do I really want to charge .99cents for something that took me almost a year to write? I feel I'm worth more than that.

In today's competitive market (strictly e-books here) you want your book read, you want your readers to feel satisfied they didn't waste their hard earned money on something they hated. (Which in that case, they'll ask for a refund.) I could have charged $6.99 for my novels like the big name authors do. But I'm not a big name author. I also want to be competitive. I also want to make some money for all my hard work, which is why I chose to start out at $2.99, the lowest price point to garner 70% royalties.

Now some of my readers in their reviews were disappointed to find that what they bought for .99 wasn't a novel. But they wouldn't pay $2.99 for one. So that either means, they're cheap, used to Free, or on a limited budget. Which in today's economy is fair to say. However, if I put my novels at .99 then that devalues ME as an author. I work hard on my books, have great covers, edit them, re-edit them, and make sure they're free of typo's and all the other junk. I feel I'm distributing a pretty good product.

I'd love to sell my novels for $6.99. Why don't I? Because I'm still new at this. I feel the more I write, the better I get, and possibly someday, after I've sold 50,000 copies, I just might. But for now, raising the price .50 cents is my way of giving myself a raise and telling consumers I value what I do. And so should they.

My books aren't crap. I've put probably a thousand man-hours into research. I've spent years rewriting and revising. I think I know what I'm doing, and with help from my critters and betas, I put out what I think is a damned fine book. Of course, there are better writers than me, I know that. But you know what, I've read some stuff that's come out of New York and I wouldn't waste my hard-earned money on it. You get what you pay for. And I think $2.99 is a pretty fair price. It's less than a cup of coffee sometimes.

So that's that. My thoughts on E-Book Pricing.

Any questions, comments, thoughts, ideas, personal experience you want to share....

When a Cover Isn't Working

As a published author, I'm constantly checking the stats on my sales reports. It's part of an OCD behaviour, I think most indie authors acquire after they've self-published. It's not a bad thing, per se, but just part of what naturally happens.

Now, my Regency romances have always sold well. (Thank you to all who've bought and reviewed them.) It's an amazing feeling to think that so many people have read them and I appreciate all the support. These aren't the problem.

If you were around a couple of weeks ago, (maybe 6) I was just getting ready to upload the long awaited REMEMBERING YOU, my contemporary women's fiction/romance. My topic of conversation revolved around the use of my name. Should I publish under Anne Gallagher, or some other form of that, or should I possibly have a different pen name altogether.

For the informal poll I posted, you overwhelmingly thought I should publish that under the name Robynne Rand. However, there were good arguments to be had in that, I built my Regency brand under Anne Gallagher, and I should take some of that juice and use it for the women's fiction.

Well, I thought and thought and thought, and took all the opinions under consideration. I decided to publish under A.R. Gallagher. It seemed the best of both worlds. I published that almost a month ago. I asked a writer, who doesn't read women's fiction to write a review, (which she did, and for someone who doesn't read w-f, she loved it.) So I thought it was all good. I mean, I had a 5-star review listed for it the day it came out. It was also listed on my author page on Amazon, so my Regency readers would see I had something else out there.

To date, I have sold one copy. (And I know who bought it.) One copy. To say this doesn't hurt is an understatement. I love this book. I cried when I wrote this book. I cry every single time I read this book. This is the one that is closest to my heart. And nobody wants it. This, my friends, is a writer's worst nightmare come true.

Now this isn't a plea for anyone to buy it. ABSOLUTELY NOT. This is a statement of what I am now going to do with it so that if any of you are experiencing the same thing, perhaps you will find comfort in that you are not alone. (See what I did there with the bold and italics and font color. This is not a plea. Besides, by the time you read this post, this incantation of this book will probably not even be up for sale anymore. (**note, it's not as of 5/10/12)

I am changing the cover. Now, this cover above is a picture of Bristol Harbor, Rhode Island where the book is set. I thought this was a good cover. Yeah, good. Not great, not wow, but I thought it did the novel justice. But, I've been thinking it's just not doing it for me, and obviously it's not doing a damn thing for sales.

I'm also going to republish it under the name Robynne Rand. I had a gut feeling about this, right from the get-go, and although the discussion was persuasive for the other, I should have listened to my guts. (Believe me, sometimes guts are the best thing to go on, no matter who says what.)

And thirdly, I'm going to market and promote this book, something I didn't do for my Regencies. I don't believe in cramming things down people's throats. But I think this is a good idea for this one. My Regencies speak for themselves, you know what you're getting just looking at the cover. This is a whole different animal. (So if any of you would like me to interview, or guest post, or whatever on your blog, now would be the time to email me. piedmontwriter at gmail dot com  Anne R. Allen had a post a few weeks ago, that said I should be the one to ask. I didn't know that. I thought YOU were supposed to ask ME. I hate to be pushy. But now I'm asking.)

With the advent of self-publishing, you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, and if that means unpublishing and republishing, hey, it's not that hard and it only takes a few clicks of the mouse. But once it's all said and done and republished, I'm hoping that this little experiment will be a viable one, not only for me, but other indie's out there. I'll keep you posted.

Tell me -- If you are self-published, have you done this? Changed a cover? Changed your name? And even if you're not, what is your opinion on what I'm about to do? Do you think it will help in any way? I mean, what have I got to lose, right?

As of yesterday, this is the new version of the cover and pen name that is now published on Amazon. What do you think? Do you like this one better?  I do.